The Heart of Kyoto
by Sevish
Summary: After defeating the Dark Hadou inside of him, Ryu chooses a life of servitude to his craft and passing it on, but the quiet life he hoped for is upset when he finds a young foreign girl in his new dojo...
1. The Foreigner

AN: This one has been sitting on my Hard Drive for a while now so I decided to revise and post it. I don't know how many of you are perusing the Street Fighter Corner of any more, but I still love the series and have heard Rumors that Street Fighter is coming to the PS3. If that's true, then I'm going to have to get me a PS3.

The Heart of Kyoto

Round 1: The Foreigner

It was a cold quiet day in the Kansai prefecture that day but that did not bother its residents any as the mood of Kyoto was always that of the bustling metropolis. It was here that Ryu would start his new life,

it was here that he stop his wandering ways. He had beaten the Dark Hadou and spared Akuma an act that may very well lead down the same path as his masters, but that was a thought for a different time and place. Right now Ryu, of the Gakuen school of Shotokan Karate, had set himself in one place. It was a dojo that he planned to teach in and keep his master's legacy alive. It seems that as a birthday present for his last birthday his best friend, Ken Masters, had bought him this dojo in the heart of Kyoto and set him up with enough money to last him the rest of his life. It was his Ideal building: It had two floors and seven rooms, one of which was sound proofed so he could use it for his meditations. Ken suggested that he get a girl friend and use it for other purposes, but Ken was a married pervert and Ryu never really looked at himself as having any type of relationship like that. Ryu opened the door to the building and stepped inside. The floors were made from polished redwood and the main room was that of the training hall. This would be were he taught his students on the majority. Ryu decided to inspect it further and found that all of the rooms where fully furnished with everything from food in the fridge to spare Gi's in the closet. Ryu ripped a piece of paper off of the cabinet beside the fridge, it read:

_To my Best bud,_

_I hope you like your surroundings, man. I took the liberty of setting you up but good, I'm expecting one hell of a fight as payment. You got me? Also Eliza Misses you. When are you gonna come to good ole San Fran and pay us a visit? Trust me you don't want Eliza mad at you, you know how pregnant women get... wait you don't do you? Anyway, I'm glad we're done with all this dark Hadou crap._

_-Give me a call,_

_Ken Masters._

_P.S. You've finally picked a spot to settle in why don't you get a girlfriend to go with it? I hear that that Chinese Interpol chick's really into you._

Ryu closed the note and placed it on the cabinet; why would he need a girl? Ryu did not pretend to understand women in any way, but he did come into a bit of loneliness here and there. He had to admit that inspector Li was more than a match for him. She was strong, fast, beautiful, intelligent and well mannered. If what Ken had written was true than he already had an in with her, but for some reason Ryu was not attracted to her. As he pondered such things he decided to explore his new home. It was modeled after the dojo that he had grown up in along side Ken, except for the second floor. His master's dojo was only a single floor; so Ryu walked up the stairs and looked at the second floor. Ryu marveled at the sheer difference between first and second floors. The first floor was a traditional Japanese style dojo where as the second was western in every aspect of its architecture. From hard wood floors and marble countertops, to the wide open living room everything on the second floor was more suited to Ken's tastes than Ryu's. Luckily, the bathroom on the top floor was a giant Japanese style bathroom with a shower outside the tub and bath that extended two feet above the floor, three below it, and was big enough to seat four people comfortably.

Ryu walked back down stairs to the dojo and took in a deep breath full of all the smells of his new home. Here he would be able to continue his master's legacy. The air shifted slightly, Ryu stopped dead in his tracks as concentrated on it. A strange feeling wafted across senses; it was a strange feeling of dread as if something was not quite right. So he decided to do the only thing he could, follow it to its source. Ryu dropped the duffle bag that he had been carrying all through the house, and raised himself to full awareness. Ryu turned the corner that lead to the dojo. He expected someone to jump at him, he expected a group of would be martial artists looking to bring him down and crown themselves world warrior, but what he did not expect was to see a sleeping girl. She was a young foreign girl, maybe sixteen years old at the most. She had white skin with long silky blonde hair and a scar on her left cheek. She was completely naked except for white linen that was wrapped around her midsection. As Ryu approached the girl as the strange feeling wafted gently away as easily as it came, and he noticed something, a small envelope resting peacefully on the girl's chest. "This has got to be another of Ken's..." Ryu muttered to himself as he picked up the envelop thinking it had to be one of the pranks Ken was so fond of. However, as he touched the envelope he knew it was not one of Ken's pranks. For some reason he knew this was real. Ryu picked up the envelope and examined it, it was rather plain for an envelope but there was something different about it that seemed to radiate off of it like the gentle presence that had been before. With slight hesitation he opened it and in bright red color that seemed to float just above the paper it was written on, he read:

_Ryu,_

_Her name is Camilla, before this time she was nothing. She had no life, no thoughts, no past, and no future. I entrust her to you knowing that you are a man of honor and of moral value. She is a blank slate now, and her sins have been washed away. Please take care of her._

_--someone who knows the true you._

Someone who knew the true him? Who could have written that letter and why was a naked foreign girl laying on his dojo floor? All of the questions that he had would have to wait as when he looked up from the letter he noticed that he shared a gaze with the most beautiful pair of aqua irised eyes he had ever seen.

"Where am I?" wondered the girl as she lay unmoving on the floor.

"You're in my dojo." Ryu responded weakly, "can you tell me your name?"

The girl scrunched her face up in thought and after a few seconds of pondering she turned to Ryu, "No, I can't." she replied simply.

"Are you hurt, anywhere?"

"I don't think so."

"Can you walk?" wondered Ryu as the girl slowly sat up put her weight on her legs. She seemed stable enough, but he noticed that the white linen that she was wrapped in was just barely enough to cover all of the parts that needed to be covered. Most of the blood in Ryu's body rushed to his face and another spot quite a bit lower as the girl stretched her long defined legs. She must have been a runner or a gymnast, Ryu mused.

"I'm ok to walk," the girl replied not noticing Ryu's glance.

"Then we should retrieve you some clothing." said Ryu with a slight cough. Without wasting any time, Ryu rushed to the closet and looked through it with haste. Unfortunately, all he found where several White Gi's, Ken had obviously expected Ryu not to need anything else. Needless to say that when he gave the clothing to Cammy it was as if she were a child trying on her parents clothing as the shirt hung from her like she was draped in a parachute. The Gi proved to be as if a dress on her with a neck line that plunged to just below her belly button.

She looked up at Ryu with defeated smile, "I don't think this is going to work." She scanned the room, walked over to an unhung punching bag and ripped the rope from the top of it. Cammy threw off the Gi top, as Ryu quickly turned his back to her, and tied the rope around her waist. Rustling was heard as she signaled for Ryu to come closer and turned around (she had turned the Gi top into a tightly wrapped shirt, "Pull the shirt tight and tie a knot in it please." Ryu did as he was told and tied a knot in the back of her shirt. When he was finished the ensemble gave off a very Chinese look to it. "This'll do." Stated the girl as she looked herself over and then turned to Ryu. "I apologize for the inconvenience I've caused, and I'll go…" The girl turned to leave.

"Where?" Ryu leaned against the wall toward Cammy, she turned to face him.

"What?"

"Do you have any place to go?"

"I… I…"

"I have plenty of room in my dojo and you don't have any place to go."

Ryu spoke simply, "What do you think?"

For a moment the girl stood quietly at Ryu's door, and for the same moment the thought she might decline the offer. That was until she dropped to her knees and braced herself against the wall. "I... I'm sorry to burden you." she began to choke on her own throat.

"Why are you crying?" Ryu asked trying to find anything he might be able to work with to ease her pain.

"I get the feeling that I don't deserve your kindness." She had broken into a steady sob now. Ryu moved closer to the girl and placed his hand on her shoulders.

"We all have things that we have done wrong; what separates those who find redemption and those who don't, is that some look for it." Ryu hoped what he had said had gotten through to her.

She wiped her eyes. She turned around, wrapped her arms around Ryu, and buried her head in his chest. There she stayed until the tears stopped. She pulled away from Ryu stood up as if what had just happened had not. She wiped her eyes once more and moved back from the door.

"If I'm going to stay here, I can't keep wearing your clothes. People will get the wrong idea about us." Ryu blushed a bright crimson, he hadn't thought about that. The blonde headed girl turned back to Ryu as she turned up the stairs.

"You said you didn't know what your name was," Ryu paused, "it's Camilla."

She smiled, "Call me Cammy."


	2. The New Fight

The Heart of Kyoto

Round 2: The New Fight

Ryu heaved a heavy grunt as Cammy moaned in pleasure, they had been at this for the past few hours and frankly he was wearing out. If he had not been trained in Shotokan Karate for the better part of the last twenty years he'd been alive, he would have worn out quite a long time ago. Little did he know when he invited Cammy to stay with him just how much of an animal she could be. Cammy ran down to the next store and let out a long rapturous squeal as she spotted a dress in the window. Ryu lugged the eight bags of the current shopping spree that they had been on. "Ryu!" Cammy called out, "what do you think of this one?"

"I think you have roped me into buying enough."

"Aww, come on, just one more!" Cammy pleaded

"That's what you said three ago!" Ryu retaliated as he took a stand against the evil that was this woman.

"Please just look at it." Cammy rushed over to Ryu and pulled him by the arm to the window. Ryu watched as the amused glances of passers by and house wives on daily errands shot in their direction. From thumbs up from the male population to delighted giggles from teenage girls Ryu had almost wished he still had access to the Dark Hadou to rain down unholy genocide on everyone who muttered 'good luck with your girlfriend' to him. However, all of his thoughts halted rather violently as Cammy physically turned his head to a stunning winter kimono made from a soft smooth cloth that was as pure white as fresh snow on the top of Mt. Fuji with small cherry blossom petals sown into the cuffs and the skirt. It was quite beautiful, and, Ryu looked at the tag, quite expensive. "Now," Cammy turned Ryu's head to meet her gaze, "Imagine how it would look on me." Now Ryu was a strong, mentally stable, person who had complete control over his own mind at all times, but he was a man and a traditional one at that. Images of Cammy walking gracefully to the table in the dining room and pouring him a drink of green tea with her hair up in a knot exposing the nape of her neck danced happily through his mind. "Pervert," Cammy smiled at him in a suggestive way, snapping Ryu back into reality.

"But... I... I wasn't..."

"Save it for the judge. Sentence, you must buy me that dress!"

"Yes ma'am." Ryu nodded, defeated.

They went back to the dojo; Ryu plopped the bags down just inside the door and collapsed face first on the floor. Cammy walked in behind him and stopped. "Ryu, who is he?" she wondered. Ryu looked up from the floor and saw that it was none other than colonel Guile of the

United States armed forces. His face was a welcome addition to Ryu's home. Guile had a long history with Ryu and Ken, from the time when they were both traveling the world to strengthen themselves to the fact that Guile is married to Eliza's sister, rather rockily. All of that aside, Ryu found a new burst of energy surge with in him as he jumped to his feet and launched a fierce kick in guile's direction. Guile dodged and retaliated with a punch aimed at Ryu's midsection; Ryu caught the punch and threw Guile across the dojo. Guile landed on his feet and rushed toward Ryu. Ryu raised his guard but was startled when Guile affectionately embraced him.

"Long time no see!" Guile roared as he continued to bear hug Ryu.

"Sure has," replied Ryu as Guile put him down, "How's your wife and little girl?"

"My little girl is great... but looks like you sure found something to do." Guile looked Cammy up and down.

"Ok, you're creeping me out." stated Cammy as she moved behind Ryu to shield herself from Guile's gaze.

"What brings you to Kyoto ?" wondered Ryu

"Serious matters, you see a dictator from a small country next to

India has started a tournament; one, in which he will participate in as he does every three years." Guile pulled out some pictures and handed them Ryu, "Ken was going to help me take him down by entering, but he's in the hospital now and can't." Ryu scanned the pictures and saw a rather large muscular man in a bright red uniform with a strange skull-like symbol on his hat. "You want me to take Ken's place in this tournament?"

"Yes, we've been trying to take this guy down for years, but everyone we've sent after him has gone missing."

"Why don't you go?" wondered Cammy not bothering to look at the pictures.

"Because the guy knows my face and knows that I'm after him. Listen, he's into everything from the illegal drug trade to slave trafficking. We've got plenty of evidence against him; we just need to catch him." Ryu handed the pictures to Cammy as he pondered what he would do. Then something caught his attention as he felt a sense of fear and anger rise behind him. Ryu turned to see Cammy had dropped the pictures on the ground and was now staring at them shaking from head to toe.

"Cammy." Ryu coaxed the now frozen girl, "Cammy?" Ryu noticed a single tear roll down her cheek. Ryu walked over to Cammy and looked at her. She shook with pain and frustration; her skin blushed from the exertion it took to hold herself back. Ryu had not been with the girl for very long but he knew that she was not an emotional person; in fact he had not seen any other emotion than the excited, uplifted version of Cammy. Ryu got the distinct feeling she was holding back because of a stranger in the room.

"Guile, can you come back tomorrow?" wondered Ryu.

"Yeah, sure." Guile realized that this was not his business and decided to take his leave, "Come see me at the Hotel Granvia tomorrow when you've made your decision." With that Guile left the small dojo.

"Cammy, what was that about?" inquired Ryu

Cammy leaned down and picked up the pictures from the floor, they seemed as if they weighed a ton in her hands and she shook as if they were burning her, "This man, I know him..." Cammy stuttered, "He did... something... something terrible to me." Cammy's face was still flushed with tears that were streaming down her face more consistently now, but she refused to let her expression devolve into a sob as she it wanted to do. Cammy stood there quivering under the stress of whatever had happened to her before. Not knowing what else to do Ryu moved to Cammy and took her hand. As he did so he got more than what he was expecting when she latched onto his as her knees buckled beneath her. "I'm sorry," she whispered, "I don't know why..."

"Don't worry about it." replied Ryu as he turned toward Cammy and wrapped her small arms around him and buried her head in his chest. She didn't know why she was crying, and that frustrated her even more. She knew that that man and either done something to her or made her do something that she did not want to.

Ryu knew what he had to do, he was going to enter that tournament and he was going to help Cammy connect with her past. For some reason he felt he owed that much to her. So there they stayed for the remainder of the night, and in the morning they went to the Hotel Granvia together. Guile was surprised to see that the young blonde girl was going with Ryu, but did not complain. Both Ryu and Cammy knew that something was going to happen and that whatever it was it was something bigger than just catching a criminal.


	3. Games we Play

The Heart of Kyoto

Chapter 3: Games we Play.

It was a private jet, sure, but it was not without its privacy. Being a temporary member of Interpol was a big bonus on a job like this, and colonel Guile was beginning to like it. The information that the international police had access was staggering to say the least. Currently he was running through the information he had access to on the man that they were hunting. He did not want to say anything out loud about what he was researching because he did not want to call any attention to the way that the girl Ryu was traveling with had struck him in there first encounter. Guile clicked restlessly through the Interpol database, and finally came across a small snippet of information. It wasn't much, just a small excerpt from a Thai newspaper that reported a young blonde girl with long twin braids and scar on her left cheek having killed an entire regimen soldiers and then disappearing. Guile had found this article months before and linked it to the man they were hunting. The man, named Bison, never usually caused his own people trouble. In fact, everything he did seemed to be to make his people's lives better. However, there was a time when he began hunting and slaughtering gypsies mercilessly. It was said that as soon as his 'Killer Bee' was brought back to him he would stop the hunting. The bastard had actually killed women and children in this tantrum he was still currently in, but for some reason, he only killed gypsies. If he wasn't another Hitler waiting to happen Guile didn't know who was. He looked at the blonde headed girl as she did some sparring with Ryu. The Plane wasn't big, but it was big enough for Ryu to give Cammy some self defense pointers before they got to their destination.

Ryu found Cammy to be a quick study and a talented fighter in the short time he had been giving her pointers. She was fast, strong, agile and smart. Her flexibility was better than his own and punches had the potential to shatter bone if left unchecked. Had she not been put in his charge for him to protect and had she been trained, he would have liked to have fought her. For right now though, Ryu needed to make sure that she could defend herself against people who would most likely try and get an unfair advantage over him through her. So they trained, and trained until the plane landed at the airport.

Ryu was expecting to see some hoge-poge medley of woodwork, metal and concrete but instead found that the airport was in fact a modern airport with all of the amities you would find in an airport in Japan or America with twice the security. Then it hit him, Ryu turned to Guile, "Shouldn't we have come in more discretely?" he wondered.

Guile nodded quietly, Ryu got the feeling that he did not want to let them in on whatever Guile was hiding and followed as they were signaled. Unconsciously, Ryu pulled Cammy closer to him as he noticed the cameras focus in on her. Suddenly, They were surrounded by the airport security with the barrels of their nine millimeters pointed squarely at Ryu, Cammy and Guile's foreheads. One, probably the leader, began barking at them in the Thai dialect of the region. Unfortunately, none of them spoke Thai. With sparse looks between them, Ryu, Cammy and Guile gave the leader a collective questioning glance. "He said, 'give him the girl'" a voice rung out from behind the leader.

In the brief second it took for the security to be distracted a blur of motion erupted in kicks and punches much faster than any bullet that might have been fired. When the dust settled Ryu found his best friend looking him in the eyes. "Ken!" Ryu shouted as he embraced Ken inciting a small yelp from the blonde headed fighter.

"His Arm's still broken." another blonde said from Ken's right side as she patted the arm that was in a sling.

"Eliza?" wondered Ryu as he smiled and was hugged by her as well.

"Hey stop that you two. No getting frisky with my wife, Ryu!" snipped Ken playfully. With a few groans from the leader as he stirred back to consciousness Ken reached into Ryu's shirt and pulled out the invitation that had been Ken's but passed to Ryu. Ken leaned down over the leader and showed him the invitation. The Leader immediately stirred to full awareness, snapped to his feet, and gave several apologetic motions. After rousing his men, the bolted off into the distance.

"What was that all about?" Wondered Cammy

"Competitors have immunity provided them so that their fights can be true street fights." Ken explained without actually paying attention to who had asked the question. Then he realized and turned to young Cammy with a lecherous smile. "Hello, senorita, who brings you here today?" Ken said in a mock Casanova voice.

"I'll break something much more important to you…" Eliza said through a smiling face in a venomous tone. Ken stepped back to his wife's side.

"Cammy has been staying at my dojo." Ryu Explained.

"You all can meet and greet back at the hotel. We need to get going so that come up with a game plan." Interrupted Guile.

"Right, Come on, Bro," Ken slung his good arm around Ryu shoulders, "you can fill me in on the hottie back at the hotel." A loud thwack was heard as Eliza punched Ken in the shoulder on his bad arm, but hung back and pulled Guile off to the side.

"Eliza?"

"Guile, Jane is worried about you."

"Tell her not to be..."

"She's contemplating divorce, Guile." The words dropped onto Guile's shoulders as if several tons of bricks.

"W-why? I provide for my family… I-I take care of…"

"That's a conversation you need to have with Jane. I'm not even supposed to be telling you this, but my sister doesn't want to divorce you. She's says you missed Chistmas, is that true?" Guile remembered it well, he was in Britain on an optional assignment tracking an assassin said to have connections to Shadowlaw. In the end he did not even get any promising leads and only managed to miss another special event in his family's history. "Guile," Eliza managed to pull the large man's eyes up from watching his toes, "Call her."

"I will Eliza, I will." This was fair warning, and he needed to act on it.

"Hey you two," Ken roared from a large distance between them, "get it in gear!! We don't have all day."

"Coming!" Eliza called back and ran off. Guile lingered for a moment, had it really been that bad? Had Guile given his wife enough of a reason to leave him?

VVV

The steam billowed out from underneath the bathroom door of the five star hotel that they had been given accommodation at. Ryu, being the gentleman he struck her as, offered Cammy the bed while he chose the floor. He was somewhat of an enigma to her. Ryu never said any more or less than he needed to, and on top of that did not need much of anything to survive. In the short time that she had been living with him, he had taken her in with little or no explanation, he gave of himself every chance he got, and on top of it all: he made her blood boil in a way that she had not experienced before.

Cammy sat on the bed alone, with her knees tucked into her chest, in the room that she insisted she share with Ryu. The dictator in those pictures was someone she knew, and he was someone she closely. Every time she tried to recall the man's face a pale sickly feeling washed over her. It made her feel as if she had been on a marionette's strings for a very long time, and he had been the one pulling them. This man made her blood boil in a way that so completely different than they way Ryu did that she often found that her scar hurt when thinking about it. Cammy did everything she could to squelch the feeling and not think about it, but the only time any of the methods she tried worked was when Ryu was near her. That was partially the reason; the rest eluded her.

Cammy stretched out and plopped back on the bed, she did not like the pajamas she had bought for herself during their first shopping trip and had decided, just this day that she would try on Ryu's clothing. She had pulled out on of the button down shirts he had worn in his everyday life and decided to use that. The difference in comfort was immediately noticeable as she wrapped herself in the shirt that could have easily been a dress on her. It was the smell really, wood grain and a soft, barely noticeable, hint of musk from his sweat; the kind of scent that never truly washes out. Just then a knock came to the door that snapped her out of her reverie. "Who is it?" Cammy called out, but got no answer in return. Cammy absentmindedly moved to the door, and looked through the peak hole to find a fist coming straight at it. Thinking quickly, Cammy ducked as the fist plowed through the mahogany door as if it were rice paper.

"What the hell!?!" Cammy shouted.

Cammy looked up at the man that had broken the door down, was a large powerful looking man with a bare chest (as bare as it could be with the large tuft of hair in the middle) and massively muscular arms and legs topped off by a head that possessed an equally large beard and blank stare.

Cammy's body reacted on instinct and launched a kick at the man's midsection while using her hands to push herself into a handstand. The man staggered back obviously surprised by the small girl's strength, but quickly recovered as he grabbed her outstretched legs and spun her into a bear hug. He as if he meant to through her over his head but held onto her and rammed her into the ground with a powerful suplex. Cammy felt both the man's weight and her own come down on her neck and she almost lost consciousness. The man released her like a bag of rotten potatoes thinking she was out, and turned away to move further into the room. Ryu rushed out from the bathroom in only his Gi bottoms and poised to fight. Just as The mountain was going to direct his attention fully on Ryu, Cammy did something she thought would not be able to, she sat up. Noticing the shift of wind in the room the large man turned back to the long haired blonde and glared at her. Cammy popped her neck and looked at the man. She stood and took up a fighting stance that seemed to engrained into her body.

Cammy held out fists as if she were a boxer and stepped up onto the tips of her toes. She found herself unable to speak as she taunted the man with her eyes. Ryu launched a kick to the side of the big man's head and vaulted over him to Cammy's side. He made no effort to stop her or get her to safety. She felt a kindred spirit as she found that his eyes matched her own in their preparedness to fight. The big man charged the duo with speed uncommon for his size, and grabbed a chair from the desk in the living room. Cammy was not expecting this and did her best to block the chair shot but was surprised when Ryu landed a punch to the large man's wrist sending the chair harmlessly across the room. Using the delay to her advantage Cammy gave a fierce leg sweep that sent the large man into the air as Ryu crouched down with fist at his chest. "Shoryuken!" Ryu roared with jumping uppercut as their attacker flew back, defeated. Cammy was not satisfied. The distance grew between Cammy and the large man and bloodlust rose in her belly. Again, her body acted on instinct and she dashed forward. She launched forward into a baseball slide and spun herself across the ground. "Cammy, wait!" Ryu called out; Cammy heard him, she wanted to stop, she knew that the large man was defeated, but she couldn't stop. Just as the large man's fall came into range, Cammy used her right leg to push herself up from the ground and her left to kick at the man. A strange blue flame engulfed her feet up to the calf and exploded when her kick came into contact with his chest. Cammy's senses came back to her just as she watched her handiwork. The large man was launched back too powerfully to be stopped and all Ryu and Cammy could do was watch as he smashed into the outer wall and went through it, falling to his doom from thirty-five stories up.

Cammy immediately regretted her actions and darted to the whole left by the big man. He was a spec now, but she could clearly see that his body was distorted and twisted as the blood pooled beneath him. Cammy had killed a man, and what was worse, she had enjoyed it. Cammy latched onto Ryu, who had moved up behind her, and buried her head in his chest. "What kind of monster am I?"

VVV

Elsewhere, another was watching the action as it took place, he was leaning out of the room directly above that of Ryu and Cammy's with his long blonde hair blowing out before him and a brilliant smile across his Spanish features. "Welcome to the world warrior tournament, children."


End file.
